Salt Lake City boy dies after near drowning in Park City

SALT LAKE CITY — A 4-year-old boy who almost drowned in a Park City pool over the weekend died Monday night.

Miles Kelly was swimming with family members at the Montage Deer Valley Resort on Saturday afternoon when relatives say he somehow slipped out of the flotation wings he was wearing and ended up at the bottom of the pool.

The Salt Lake City family was attending a family reunion at the resort and was surrounded by relatives at the time of the accident. A 5-year-old cousin in the pool told her mother Miles was underwater just before 4 p.m.

Weston Lunsford, the boy's uncle, spoke on behalf of the family Monday night. The boy passed away just before 5 p.m. due to medical complications resulting from the near drowning, he said.

Miles was taken from the resort by medical helicopter to Primary Children's Medical Center and had been in intensive care since the accident, Lunsford said. The boy never regained consciousness.

Relatives and resort staff performed CPR on the boy until emergency personnel from the Park City Fire Department arrived on scene. After another 15 minutes of CPR, emergency responders reported Miles' heart was beating.

Security footage from the resort shows the boy swimming toward his cousins in the pool, then slipping beneath the water, Lunsford said.

"We've always in our minds thought when someone drowns there's a big noise and its chaotic and there's a lot of splashing," he said. "We've been told by several people that's never the case. … I'm not sure how he was missed by any of us." 

Lunsford described his nephew as a loving big brother who adored stuffed animals.

"He loved hiking with his parents and being outdoors," Lunsford said. "He had a special, special bond with his mother and father."

An account has been set up in Miles Kelly's name for donations to help the family with medical costs, Lunsford said. Donations can be made at any Zions Bank.

E-mail: mromero@deseretnews.com

Twitter: @McKenzieRomero